Impact of school start time and sleep pattern of adolescents on their mood and sleep quality

Objective: The physiological delay in bedtime among adolescents, compounded with the early start of school, results in insufficient sleep, especially on school days. The present study compared the sleep pattern and moods of students attending two schools with different start timing. Materials and Methods: The study involved adolescents from two schools with different start times: School A (7 am) and School B (8 am). Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21, and Pediatric Daytime Sleepiness Scale questionnaires were used to assess students' mood, sleep duration, sleep quality, and daytime sleepiness. The clinical trial registry number is CTRI/2022/06/043556. Result: A total of 640 students (mean age 13.7 ± 2.0 years; 47.5% male) participated in this study. Students from School B had longer sleep duration, with 72.9% reporting sleep deprivation compared to 87.1% of School A (P = 0.00001). School A students reported having (P ≤ 0.001) higher daytime sleepiness, higher daytime dysfunction (P = 0.023), and poorer sleep quality. Students at School A scored higher for all mood derangements, with significantly higher scores for depression (P = 0.041). Conclusion: The study illustrates that though not much differences are observed in the bedtime of adolescents of the two schools, however, due to the early school start time of School A, students have to compulsorily wake up early, leading to higher sleep deprivation and greater mood derangements among them.